PEARS chief Alex Gidman has warned fresh faces could be introduced into the club’s Championship squad as they bid for a first four-day win since May.
Despite being among the favourites for promotion to the top flight in pre-season, the Pears go into Sunday’s game at Northamptonshire on the back of three successive Championship defeats.
The New Road side find themselves ninth in Division Two, 37 points off the promotion spots following a run of six defeats and two draws in the eight Championship games leading up to the start of the Vitality Blast campaign.
Gidman said: “Although in the last five Championship games, we’ve lost three of them, in those three matches we gave ourselves a chance to go and win them and we didn’t take those opportunities.
“We have to accept that, I have to accept that, and that means that possibly we didn’t get everything 100 per cent right.
“We will learn all the way through. We will try and learn from our mistakes and, if that means we need to make some changes, then we certainly will do because you are where you are in the table for a reason.
“Although we’ve played some good cricket, we’ve also played some poor cricket and, if that means we need to introduce some new faces towards the end of the season, then we certainly will do if that’s what, most importantly, Joe (Leach) feels he needs as he walks onto the pitch.”
Wicket-keeper batsman Alex Milton has put himself in contention for more first-team involvement after his 74 against an Australian attack including Test duo Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood in last week’s drawn tour match at New Road.
It was his first senior appearance of 2019 and, after a disappointing start to the campaign with the bat, followed on from centuries for the Seconds against Leicestershire (138) and Nottinghamshire (135) when leading last day rearguard actions.
Gidman said: “I thought he was super and he’s off the back off a couple of hundreds for the second team. By his own admission he didn’t have a great start to the season and understood why he wasn’t involved.
“For me, from an outcome point of view, it wasn’t necessarily about winning or losing against Australia. It was about which individuals took the opportunity.
“It is clear a couple have – and a couple missed the opportunity. It is as simple as that and good on Alex in particular for sticking his hand up and showing that sort of skill and character that we are after.
“To go and get 70 odd against a Test attack stands out. He will definitely be taken into consideration.
“I’m not going to sit here and say ‘he will definitely play’ but you can’t ignore performances like that.”